Mediagazer: A Comcast-Fox Deal for Catalog TV Rights Could Hurt Netflix (Andrew Wallenstein/Variety)

12:20 PM ET, September 25, 2013

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

If Popular Science cares about science, why not try to fix comments instead of killing them? — Popular Science magazine says it is shutting down comments because they are “bad for science,” but what's really bad for science is closing off a potential avenue for informed debate around the topics the site is writing about.

Discussion: Slate, @talkingnewmedia, GigaOM and FishbowlNY

Suzanne LaBarre / Popular Science:
Why We're Shutting Off Our Comments

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Lloyd's List, the world's oldest newspaper, to give up on print — Lloyd's List, which lays claim to be the world's oldest continuously published newspaper, is to become a totally digital entity by the end of this year. — The paper, founded in 1734, is regarded as the leading news …

Discussion: Lloyd's List, FishbowlNY, Informa News and The Huffington Post

Liam Corcoran / Wannabe Hacks:

EXCLUSIVE - Guardian and Cardiff scrap plans for Journalism MA — The Guardian and Cardiff University have scrapped their plans to launch a journalism masters degree. — There was much publicity last year when the joint venture, for a course in Journalism with Digital Media …

Discussion: Press Gazette

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

A Comcast-Fox Deal for Catalog TV Rights Could Hurt Netflix — Potential Fox-Comcast pact portends a troubling trend for SVOD biz — With three Emmy statuettes now on its mantle, this should be a carefree time at Netflix. Were it only that simple. — A Wall Street Journal story hit …

Discussion: @pkafka, @simonowens and Yahoo! News

P.J. Bednarski / mediapost.com:
Iger Sees Little Cord-Cutting, Says Netflix is Good, Not Dominant

Discussion: MediaPost, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Home Media Magazine and Deadline.com

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

YouTube rolls out a new royalty-free music library — The number of songs you're legally allowed to mix into the personal videos you upload to YouTube is understandably low when it comes to well-known songs. — For this reason, YouTube is launching a new royalty-free audio library …

Discussion: youtubecreator.blogspot.ch, TechCrunch, NYT Bits, Inquirer, Mashable, Geekosystem, The Verge, Engadget and Softpedia News

Leslie Picker / Bloomberg:

Belo Said to Have 70% Shareholder Support for Gannett Offer — Belo Corp. (BLC), the TV station owner that is the target of a $1.5 billion takeover bid by Gannett Co., has support from more than 70 percent of its shareholders for the deal, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Discussion: Radio & Television … and Gannett Blog

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Amazon Tries Breaking From the Streaming-Video Pack With Offline Viewing for New Kindles — Amazon has been spending a lot of time and money trying to catch up to Netflix in the subscription-video race. So far, not much luck: Many more people seem to be watching video via Reed Hastings's service.

Discussion: PublishersWeekly.com, GigaOM, Variety, CNET, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and ZDNet

Tim Kenneally / The Wrap:

USA Today's Larry Kramer: Newspapers must aid discovery and deliver unique content to survive — TheGrill: USA Today Publisher - Newspapers Must Be Conversation-Starters in the Digital Age (Video) — Unique content and the reader's process of discovery are the key to the survival …

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

AOL CEO Leads Charge to Pry Ad Dollars From TV — Automated Ad Exchanges Are Key to AOL Strategy to Woo TV Dollars to Online Video — AOL Inc. Chief Executive Tim Armstrong stood on stage Monday amid thumping music and arty projections, once again playing cheerleader for an online video industry …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and AdAge

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Malone Says Reaching Time Warner Cable Deal Still Makes Sense — Billionaire John Malone, the largest investor in Charter (CHTR) Communications Inc., is still aiming to convince Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) that teaming up is in both companies' best interests.

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

How many people really pay for digital news? — Now that roughly a third of the nation's newspapers are charging for access to their web and mobile content, the early evidence suggests that digital audiences aren't nearly as enthusiastic about paying for news as publishers are about charging for it.

Ted Johnson / Variety:

FCC to Propose Rule That May Limit Media Ownership — The never-ending debate over media consolidation this week will focus on an esoteric rule that involving how the FCC calculates whether groups like Sinclair, Univision and Fox meet or exceed caps on station ownership.

Al Jazeera English:

Egypt shuts down Brotherhood newspaper — Office of Freedom and Justice daily raided and contents seized, days after court ordered movement's funds frozen. — Egyptian authorities have shut down the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice newspaper in Cairo.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Kirk LaPointe's …, Reuters, Gulf News and Agence France-Presse

Nick Wingfield / NYT Bits:

Internet Pioneer RealNetworks Seeks Revival — SEATTLE — When a ground-breaking product called RealPlayer was released in its earliest form in 1995, Steven P. Jobs had yet to return to Apple, Google's future founders had only just met and Mark Zuckerberg was 10 years old.

Discussion: Forbes, VentureBeat, BetaNews, FierceOnlineVideo News, Electronista, TechCrunch and Techie News

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Roku updates its set-top box line with new features and sweetheart content deals — Roku is today refreshing its family of set-top streaming boxes with a modest set of improvements and new features. The Roku 3 remains unchanged as the company's flagship box, but every model beneath it has been refreshed …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Bloomberg, GigaOM, Variety and Wired

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

News UK issues tough new guidance on illegal payments including whistblowers' hotline — Times Newspapers and Sun publisher News UK has issued tough new guidance on bribery and illegal payments to all staff and freelance contributors. — The guidelines include the creation …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Mark Thompson: more financial scrutiny could undermine BBC — Former director general also questions whether trust chairman Lord Patten's call for cuts in senior managers is a new initiative — Former BBC director general Mark Thompson has warned that giving the National Audit Office greater access …

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

News Corp. Challenges Angelina Jolie Stunt Double's Wiretapping Lawsuit — The company looks to stop the first claim brought in the United States by an alleged hacking victim and points to the activity happening in the U.K. in the ongoing hacking scandal. — Late on Friday afternoon last week …

Discussion: TheMediaBriefing.com, @randlight, @martin_hickman and Press Gazette

Christopher Arns / Sacramento Business Journal:

California governor signs anti-paparazzi bill into law — The Kim Kardashians of the world can rest easy now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed an anti-paparazzi bill into law. Senate Bill 606, authored by Los Angeles Democrat Kevin De León, would protect the children of public figures …

Discussion: Associated Press, Business Standard, Celebrity-gossip.net and Los Angeles Times

Luisita Lopez Torregrosa / New York Times:

Tina Brown Goes Global — NEW YORK — The evolving and shifting global women's movement is about to get more crowded and more star-powered as Tina Brown, the storied magazine editor who has decided to leave publishing, takes her Women in the World celebrity-studded show out into the world.

Discussion: @saramorrison, @charlesrollet1, @dylanbyers, @blakehounshell and @mckaycoppins

Jack Shafer:

New York's attorney general should battle real crime instead of fake online reviews — “Jack Shafer's latest column is his absolute BEST! Ever!” — New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman made Page One news yesterday, Sept. 23, in the New York Times with his announcement …

Discussion: Consumerist, ZDNet and VentureBeat

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

Jeff Bezos: Washington Post Purchase ‘Is A Personal Investment’ — Jeff Bezos spoke out about buying the Washington Post on television for the first time on Wednesday's “New Day.” — Speaking to CNN correspondent Dan Simon, he said that that he was hopeful about the road ahead and his ability to contribute to the organization.

Discussion: Today, Poynter, The Verge, ABC News, CNN, International Business Times and Businessweek

Tim Kenneally / The Wrap:

TheGrill: Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia - 'Cable's an Inefficient Packaging System' — Aereo — which has drawn the legal ire of networks for providing their content via tiny antennas — has been painted as a potential killer of the television and cable industries.

Discussion: Softpedia News and Media Money …